Radar level gauges are suitably used for making non-contact measurements of the level of products such as process fluids, granular compounds and other materials. An example of such a radar level gauge system can include a microwave unit for transmitting microwaves towards the surface and receiving microwaves reflected by the surface, processing circuitry arranged to communicate with said microwave unit and to determine said level based on a relation between transmitted and received microwaves, an interface for connecting said processing circuitry externally of said radar level gauge, and a power management circuitry providing said microwave unit and said processing circuitry with operating power.
In order to ensure a satisfactory signal level of the received echo, the emitted microwaves must have a sufficient power level. The processing of received signals also requires significant power, and in some cases the clock frequency of the processor is increased during the processing in order to enable high speed calculations. In combination, this results in an increased demand of power during certain parts of the measuring cycle. The power requirements are especially high for Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) systems. However, the provision of power is relatively difficult to achieve in practice, since energy is normally a scarce resource in the above-discussed type of gauges.
In particular, limited available power is a problem in systems using a two wire feeding system. Radar level gauges for measuring of a level in a tank, and other types of process sensors, are typically connected with a two-wire interface, where only two lines serve to both supply the sensor with limited power and to communicate a measured and processed measuring signal. The interface can be a 4-20 mA industrial loop with superimposed digital communication, or another two-wire fieldbus, such as Fieldbus Foundation (FF) or Profibus. Other possible interfaces include a four-wire interface, where two lines provide power, and two wires communicate measurement signals. In case of a 4-20 mA loop, the available power is thus dependent upon the signal value of the gauge, so that during periods with low signal value (e.g. around 4 mA) only a very limited power is available. Even during periods of high signal value (e.g. around 20 mA) the available power may not be sufficient to power the processing circuitry and the microwave emitter during a measurement cycle.
For this reason, power management in some form may be required, to distribute the available power between different components and over time. Such power management may include storage of energy in some kind of energy storage device, so that this energy can be used to boost the available power during periods of increased power requirements. The energy storage can take place in specifically designated stand-by periods, following each measurement cycle, or take place throughout the measurement cycle, during periods of low activity.
In the case where measurements are made in a tank containing explosive gas or liquids or in any other situation where the sensor is located in an explosion endangered area, there is also an issue of explosion protection. Normally, either the installation is made explosion proof by some kind of casement, or its outside electrical connection is made intrinsically safe (IS). The latter case requires that input power, voltage and current do not exceed levels stated by safety regulations (IS requirements). This is ensured by a so called electrical barrier, arranged in the interface to the intrinsically safe area.
However, these IS requirements also limit the levels of energy storage allowed in the installation at given voltage and current levels. Such limitations apply to any energy store present in the system, such as capacitance and inductance, and severely limits the applicability of energy storage solutions as outlined above. In many cases this results in a need for the cumbersome and expensive process of encasing the circuitry, e.g. by molding, and in other cases even encasement is not accepted by the safety regulations as a means to ensure an explosion proof installation.